Wolverine Wednesday: The Golden Bear Rolls Over on his Buckeyes

Jack Nicklaus is a golfing legend.  He is the best golfer ever, end of story right?  Nope, as many of you know.  He is also a Ohio State Buckeye; for those that have played the U of M golf course, the legend is that from the back tee on No. 18  (used to be No. 9) he hit his ball in the water with a three wood (yes it was a real wood).  

I don't know how far it is to get to the water from the tips but I'm guessing it's over 300 yards with technology from the late 1950s.

Jack was in C-Bus on Monday to do a charity event for his Memorial Tournament.  He was asked about the Tressel situation and had gave his opinion:  "I don't know what really happened, but I'll promise you that Tressel wasn't the only one that knew what happened," Nicklaus told The Plain Dealer. Nicklaus' theory runs contrary to the facts as the public knows them and contrary to the facts as presented by Ohio State in its self-report to the NCAA.

"I can't imagine that the university didn't know what was going on," Nicklaus said. "Unless Jim, who is a terrific guy, maybe he decided to take it on his own shoulders. That could be, I don't know. I just like him a lot.

"I think he's an honest guy, he's a straight guy and he's a great coach. I think he really cares about his kids. And if I had a kid who was of age to play here, I'd love to have him play under Tressel, because I just think he's a great guy."  (His grandson recently picked Florida State over Ohio State.)

Jack was clearly trying to support his coach but basically just accused his University of not having Institutional Control.  Which would be another log on the fire regarding the potential penalty. 
 
Now OSU AD Gene Smith is starting to speak up about this and probably trying to cover his own backside.  Speaking on the cost of this entire case: “It’ll probably eat up the whole $250 (thousand),” Smith said. “I’m not sure. We haven’t done any projections.”  Evidently, Tressel was supposed to apologize the night the story broke but didn't and Smith had to talk to Tressel about it.  “Then we got with him and he got better at it,” Smith said. “It’s an emotional thing.”  Gene how is the whole process going?  “It’s a nightmare,” he said.

Is it me or is anyone else feeling that Tressel is not the clean-cut guy that he portrays himself to be?  I think Jimmy might be playing under a different set of rules and I'm betting many at OSU know it. 

• 5-Star QB Zeke Pike announces his decision today.  It's down to Auburn, Michigan and Purdue.  No pun intended, but the smart money is on Auburn.  It's going down at 2:15.